State attorney general to investigate gas price hikes
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna is teaming up with the Governor’s Office and the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to investigate factors that influence gas prices in the state.
The state expects to publish findings from the first phase of this investigation in July and will share the results during a series of public forums this fall.
The investigation’s first phase will analyze factors that affect pricing patterns in Washington, while the second phase will address any market anomalies that are identified.
Food Network honors Burgerville
Food Network presented Vancouver-based Burgerville with the “Better Burger Award” at its first-ever Food Network Awards, televised on April 15. The network chose Burgerville for its use of high-quality, local and sustainable ingredients and commitment to sustainability.
The company, part of The Holland Inc., uses wind power as an energy source for all of its 39 restaurants throughout Southwest Washington and Oregon and converts all of its oil to biodiesel, generating more than 6,400 gallons per month.
The restaurant was selected by an internal panel led by Food Network Kitchens. The red carpet awards gala was filmed in Miami Beach and hosted by celeb chef Emeril Lagasse.
Portland Area Business Association expands to Vancouver
The Portland Area Business Association will be opening its newest networking venue in Vancouver, beginning May 3. The weekly “biz builders” will be held at North Bank Tavern, 106 W. Sixth Street, from noon to 1 p.m. PABA is affiliated with the national GLBT Chamber of Commerce, an inclusive group comprised of members of the gay, lesbian, bi, transgender community, their friends and associates in business. Visit www.paba.com or datebook at www.vbjusa.com
Longs closes Vancouver drugstore
The Longs Drug Store at 14300 N.E. 20th Ave. in Salmon Creek will close as the company reduces the number of stores it operates in Washington and Oregon.
The date of the closure has not been set, and is part of Longs Drugs’ planned disposition of 31 stores by the end of 2008. Other Washington closures include seven stores in King County and others in Snohomish, Pierce and Yakima counties. The California-based drug store chain indicated employees would receive some form of severance pay.
The Washougal store was traded to Rite Aid. Longs exchanged a California store, three in Washington and two in Oregon with Rite Aid for six stores in Northern Nevada.
The agreement is part of Longs Drugs’ planned disposition of 31 stores during the fiscal year.
C-TRAN expands biodiesel program
C-TRAN will expand its existing biodiesel program on May 1 from its current fleet-wide use of B5, a five percent biodiesel blend, to B20, a twenty percent biodiesel blend.
In November 2006, C-TRAN announced the award of over $605,000 in grant monies from the Washington State Department of Ecology to retrofit its entire bus fleet to accommodate the use of new ultra low sulfur diesel. C-TRAN has also secured grant funds to upgrade currently funded diesel bus replacements to hybrid technology. Scheduled to arrive in 2008, twelve new buses will be equipped with diesel/electric hybrid power sources to reduce fuel consumption, cost and engine emissions.
Real Estate & Development
Southwest Washington properties included in upcoming auction
Realty Marketing/Northwest’s spring 2007 auctions include commercial, industrial, residential, timber, recreational and development properties from Montana to California. The oral auction of 22 properties will be conducted on May 12 at the Portland Sheraton Airport Hotel, with sealed bids due for the remaining 42 properties May 23, June 6 and 22 and July 31.
Seventy percent of the properties have never been on the market, and include seven lots at Granite Highlands in Washougal.
A free auction catalog may be obtained by calling 1-800-845-3524 or by visiting www.rmnw-auctions.com.
Design & Construction
JD White Co. founder named First Citizen
John White has been chosen as Clark County’s First Citizen for 2007. White is a planning consultant and owner of JD White, a division of national engineering firm Berger/ABAM Engineers Inc.
The award is presented annually to a person (or couple) chosen by a panel of previous First Citizens. Selection is based on effectiveness in leadership roles, raising community standards and expectations, and exemplary giving of time, self and resources.
White will be honored at the First Citizen reception, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on June 12 at the Hilton Vancouver.
Rehfeldt to construct Carbonic Systems building
Carbonic Systems Inc. is contracting with Vancouver-based contracting company Rehfeldt Construction for a 3,500-square-foot building planned for downtown Vancouver, at 704 W. Eighth St. The business, which distributes industrial and medical gases, is owned by father and son Lyle and Greg Evanson.
The $400,000 building will sit next door to existing office space owned by the Evansons, which will be leased to Airgas Inc.
Carbonic Systems was a division of Vancouver Welding Supply, which the Evansons sold to Pennsylvania-based Airgas in 2005.
Workforce Development
State jobless rate hits record low
Washington’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent in March, tying November 1999 as the lowest rate since the seasonally adjusted series began in 1976, according to the state Employment Security Department. Seasonally adjusted, state employers added 3,100 nonfarm jobs last month. The sectors that saw the most growth were government, retail trade and professional and business services.
However, several sectors that had posted healthy gains over the past year declined in March: manufacturing, information service and education and health services.
February’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, which dropped three-tenths from January. An estimated 168,700 people are currently unemployed and seeking work in Washington, down nearly 22,000 from February.
Regionally, unemployment in Southwest Washington remained higher than the state and nation and job growth was moderate in Clark County but slower in Cowlitz and Skamania counties.
New law aims to improve UI-system fairness
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire recently signed a new law that aims to improve fairness and accountability in the state’s unemployment-insurance system. The law prevents employers from pushing their unemployment costs onto other businesses, and increases penalties for people who fraudulently claim benefits.
Under the new law:
- Employers will be held responsible for unemployment benefits paid to their workers if their benefits were paid due to an error on the employer’s quarterly tax reports.
- Officers of a corporation that goes out of business may be held responsible for unemployment taxes if corporation assets were hidden to avoid the tax bill. Under the previous law, other employers had to cover those costs.
- Employers who file incorrect or incomplete tax-and-wage reports will receive a warning letter for a first offense, and repeated violations within a five-year period will be penalized on a graduated scale.
- Corporations are required to provide unemployment coverage for all of their corporate officers, unless an employer notifies the state Employment Security Department that it is opting out.
- Professional employer organizations must register themselves and their client companies with the ESD and file separate quarterly reports for each client. Also, each client company will pay unemployment taxes based on its own unemployment experience, rather than sharing a single rate with other clients of the PEO.
- People who try to obtain unemployment benefits fraudulently face new monetary fines and increased suspension periods in addition to the previous requirement to repay any benefits received.
ESD adds new fraud-fighter
The state Employment Security Department is expanding its use of technology to track down offenders who draw unemployment benefits in Washington while working in another state. The department is now using a new national cross-match system to quickly identify unemployment claimants who are drawing wages in another state.
Previously, the ESD had to wait up to three months before receiving wage data from other states, and now will only have to wait a few weeks for more complete data.
Washington wages rank 10th nationally
Washington workers earned an average of $823 per week in the third quarter of 2006 placing it 10th among all states, according to the state Employment Securities Department. The national average was $784.
Those with higher wages were the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, California, Delaware and Illinois.
The counties with the highest average wages were King, Benton and Snohomish, and the lowest average was Okanogan County. The highest-paying sector was information, averaging $2,299 per week. The sector with the lowest average wage was accommodation and food services at $302 per week.
Innovation & Technology
Web design company expands
Doug Williams and Assoc., a Vancouver-based web design and Internet marketing company has moved into larger quarters for the third time in its five year history. The company has relocated to the Hazel Dell Professional Building at 7414 N.E. Hazel Dell Ave. in Vancouver.
Event 1 unveils new product
Vancouver-based Event 1 Software Inc. unveiled the prototype of its newest product, Office Connector for Prolog Manager and Microsoft Excel.
Office Connector for Prolog Manager is an add-in for Microsoft Excel that allows users to directly connect Excel to their data source. An Office Connector toolbar in Excel gives the users access to wizards allowing them to directly connect a cell in Excel to data in Prolog, or connect a range of cells to fields and tables in Prolog. Users should experience increased productivity.
iriver releases new portable multimedia player
Vancouver-based iriver released the second-generation iriver clix portable multimedia player. The redesigned device provides a choice of either 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB flash memory, support for a wide variety of music and video file formats, digital FM tuner, enhanced photo viewing, improved video capabilities of up to 30 frames per second and improved FlashLite game support.
The redesigned iriver clix display is thinner and larger than its predecessor, with a convex shape.
Nautilus inks deal in India
Nautilus has secured the largest fitness contract in India, after being awarded an exclusive supply agreement with Talwalkars, India’s largest chain of health centers.
The exclusive partnership involves outfitting 20 health and fitness centers in 2007, with another 80 planned in major retail malls across the country, through an agreement between Talwalkar Better Value Fitness and Pantaloon Retail Limited.
In addition, Nautilus has signed an exclusive distributor agreement with Talwalkars to market the company’s premium home gym brands across India and will supply full product training.
Doster designers get Web certified
Dotster Inc., a Vancouver domain registration and Web hosting company, announced the .Mobi Mobile Web developer certification of its two lead Web designers to build sites.
With .Mobi Mobile Web Developer Certification, Dotster’s Web designers offer specialized knowledge in mobile Web development across multiple platforms.
.Mobi Web sites are created exclusively to be viewed on mobile devices.
Antares to sell Gryphics line
Antares Advanced Test Technologies and Gryphics Inc., a subsidiary of Cascade Microtech Inc., jointly announced that they have reached an agreement in which Antares will assume sales, distribution and service responsibilities for Gryphics’ LQFN test-socket line.
The deal is designed to expand Antares’ products while expanding Gryphics’ global sales and service footprint.
“Kalypso” will be the companies’ new co-branded test socket and contactor solution for QFN and lead-frame packaged test applications. Chipmakers that order Kalypso – formerly LQFN – will now have access to Antares’ sales personnel and applications engineers before, during and after implementation.
New Edge forms agent council
New Edge Networks of Vancouver has appointed a 12-member agent council that will help the business network company streamline sales and marketing approaches for its authorized agent program.
Following its acquisition by EarthLink Inc., New Edge will use the agent council to improve the quality of support, network products, training, channel management, systems and communications.
Banking & Finance
iQ Credit Union partners with Parks Foundation
iQ Credit Union will kick-off their sponsorship of the foundation’s “Walk-A-Mile, Build-A-Trail” program at the May 12 “iQ Walk Lacamas Lake” event which will be held at Lacamas Lake Park beginning at 9 a.m. iQ’s challenge to its employees is to raise $13,000 through the WAMBAT program by October 2007 for Clary County park trails.
The iQ “Walk Lacamas Lake” event is the first in a series of programs and activities the Credit Union will offer to promote employee wellness, while also supporting the development of future county trails.
For information about the May 12 event, please contact Melanie Stephens at 360-992-4246.
Health Care & Hospitals
Legacy named company that cares
Portland-based Legacy Health System, the parent of Vancouver’s Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital, was named to the 2007 Honor Roll by the Center for Companies That Care.
The nonprofit group lauded the health system’s endowed $10 million community health fund, money from which is used to improve children’s health and its employee programs, which allow employees to take up to two weeks of paid leave to volunteer with community nonprofits.
SWMC specialty clinic opens its doors
Southwest Washington Medical Center’s new Southwest Specialty Clinic, 8716 E. Mill Plain Blvd. in Vancouver, welcomed its first patients on April 16. The clinic is the permanent site of the Wound and Hyperbaric Medicine Center, which was temporarily housed at the Memorial campus. It treats patients with chronic and hard-to-heal wounds – the first of its kind in Clark County, according to SWMC.
The clinic also includes the Center for Weight Management and Anticoagulation Clinic, which is run by pharmacists who are clinically trained to monitor warfarin therapy to help patients manage their risk of clots or bleeding.
Bank gives $100G to breast care center
Bank of Clark County bestowed $100,000 to Southwest Washington Medical Center to support the construction of its new breast care center on the medical center campus. The bank’s gift funds the reception area, which will be named in honor of Deborah Oester and Karen Spridgeon.
Oester is senior vice president of the bank and a breast cancer survivor. Spridgeon, who died of breast cancer at age 47, was the mother of bank president Kim Capeloto’s wife, Lisa.
The center is still in the design phases, and will have more rooms for screening and diagnostic services, with the potential of adding services like massage therapy and yoga. The hospital’s current breast care center is located in the Physician’s Pavilion on the medical center campus.
College gets grant toward LPN program
Clark College secured a $15,387 grant through the Promise of Nursing for Washington Nursing School grant program to fund a feasibility study for a licensed practical nursing program. The LPN Program Planning Project will provide the planning necessary to implement a unique model for the future education of licensed practical nurses. Historically, LPN programs were embedded within registered nurse associate degree programs so colleges weren’t producing graduates who remained LPNs – they typically completed LPN requirements to move on to quickly complete an RN, according to the college.
